Well, GW didn't lose any sleep over this game, either, although for an entirely different reason. The Dodgers took it to the Bucs today, rolling to a 10-2 victory.
The Pirates again saw a struggle for the starter, in this case Paul Maholm, as he handed over a 4-1 deficit in the seventh inning to Hayden Penn. A half dozen batters later, it was 8-1, and that was all the fat lady needed to know, though Javier Lopez gave up a couple more in the ninth, just to make sure.
The hitting hero is just who you'd expect, Delwyn Young. He got a spot start in right, and went two-for-two with a pair of doubles to go with two walks, and scored and drove in a run. Bobby Crosby had two singles to go with his two throwing errors.
So far in the very early hours of the 2010 season, the Pirates have shown a little more bat than expected. The problem is translating runners into runs; they stranded 11 guys today and 24 in the past two games. One good sign is that the team is starting to show some good, hard, base-running instincts.
The starting pitching has struggled, and the bullpen has been erratic. The fielding is still a mystery; they booted three balls today, but only one in the first pair of games. It'll take the team awhile, we think, to get used to one another on the diamond; the glovework should improve, but not to much more than an adequate level. And they're 2-1; go figure.
But hey, we'll see. If the pitching picks up a bit - and the starters should; the pen, well... - and the hits turn into scores, this could be an interesting year. And for once, the All-Star break should mean reinforcements, not decimation, for the roster.
Before the fireworks go off this summer, the big questions could be what to do with Andy LaRoche and who's the loser in the Garrett Jones - Jeff Clement - Jose Tabata triangle? And that's progress, even more than the wins and losses.
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